Three salesmen pull up outside a dingy, housing commission unit, their car boot packed with more than 20 new laptops ready to be given away.

This poverty-stricken street in regional Queensland is one of the front lines of Australia’s out-of-control vocational education sales industry. It’s the biggest get-rich-quick scheme in Australia, and “Hamza” has driven all the way from Victoria to play his part.

Four months ago, the federal government cracked down, tightening the laws and promising more rules on January 1. The ACCC has launched prosecutions against Sydney college Unique International, which has allegedly targeted vulnerable people in Aboriginal communities. The ACCC has also flagged its intention to go after another college, Melbourne’s Phoenix Institute.

Here, though, nothing has changed. Inside the house lives a multi-generational, part-Aboriginal family under the care of matriarch Lenore Lutanichi. There is plenty of love, but precious little money. There’s no carpet on the concrete floor and not much furniture.

The children range in age from newborns to early teens. Every adult is on welfare.

A car boot full of new laptops ready for delivery for new vocational students.

A car boot full of new laptops ready for delivery for new vocational students. Photo: Michael Bachelard

The adults have all signed up to at least one $18,000 online diploma course. Hamza, who is today representing Victorian training provider Ascet Institute of Technology, came to sign up more.

“You can choose four course options: project management, human resource management, business, and leadership management,” he said to the crowd gathered on the veranda, his two mates guarding the carload of laptops.

“This is an online course … you don’t have to go to a college; you just stay home and spend maybe two or three hours [on the computer] during the week … Mostly people complete the course [in] a minimum … of six or eight months.”

Vocational education salesman “Hamza” and his car full of laptops.

Educators know that genuine diplomas are highly technical and take two years full-time or four years part-time at TAFE to complete.

But there is one big reason why so many sign up: the offer of a free computer.

“This is an incentive by the government. They are offering laptops, on the spot,” Hamza announced.

Tasmin Watson, Lenore Lutanichi and other family members.

These honeyed words, captured by Fairfax Media on video, are both false and illegal. The July 1 law changes banned the offer of inducements to sell vocational courses.

The sharks of the education marketplace, lured by easy profits from government funding, are simply ignoring the law.

Ms Lutanichi and her family were first visited around July by “Yashma”, who represented Melbourne’s Phoenix Institute, which is owned by listed group Australian Careers Network (ACN).

Vocational education salesman Gagandeep Sachdeva with his new Porsche

She agreed to sign up, excited by a new educational opportunity, and then encouraged her five children and all their partners and ex-partners to do the same. All got their free laptops.

But what each was really agreeing to was a big HECS-style debt that they would be required to pay back.

The scheme, thanks to agents such as Yashma and Hamza, has exploded in the past 12 months. Driven by a hot-house sales culture, it will cost the taxpayer $4 billion this year.

A text message sent by saleswoman Yashma to Lenore Lutanichi.

“It’s the most expensive laptop ever,” Ms Lutanichi jokes.

Most of that massive diversion of public funds is likely to be wasted. Ms Lutanichi’s family, like most new “students”, will never get a qualification. But if they get their lives together and earn more than the average salary – currently pegged at just over $54,000 – they will need to repay the loans.

After signing 10 people up for courses, Yashma then started using Ms Lutanichi to do grunt work for her, paying $50 for every new person she found. Ms Lutanichi would send tax file numbers and other identifying documents such as Medicare cards via SMS.

SMS from saleswoman Yashma to Lutanichi after a Fairfax Media sting

Fairfax Media has discovered that sales agents employ “scribes” to fill in the necessary forms – often including the English language and numeracy tests – which are supposed to be filled in by students.

Then Yashma asked for even more business, this time for another college, Ascet Institute of Technology – a small Melbourne college that has been registered for 20 years and, until recently, taught mainly cooking courses.

Eighteen-year-old Tasmin Watson, Lutanichi’s daughter, signed up again. Officially she is studying a business diploma from Phoenix Institute, and a property management diploma at Ascet.

She has not read the course material for either – she’s too busy improving her poor literacy, trying to finish high school, and being a single mum to baby Sienna.

“I haven’t started the course yet … after finding out it was a fraud,” she says. “And I don’t think I would have done it anyway. But I got a free laptop, so, yeah.”

Paul Wiggett, 19, Lutanichi’s former son-in-law, can barely read or write, but has signed up for a business diploma at Phoenix. Documents also arrived recently, out of the blue, for a “Diploma of Events” from yet another college, Sydney-based AIPE. Mr Wiggett doesn’t know how his name was registered for that.

Ms Watson’s VET FEE-Help debt for the two courses is $41,000, she thinks. Actually, nobody here is quite sure how much they owe.

As you are our Western Australian (WA) representative in the Federal Parliament, we ask you to find out from the WA Legal Practice Board as to what crime our member Mr. Nicholas Chin had committed prior to his deregistration.

Mr. Lloyd Rayney was acquitted on three occasions: does the regulator of Lawyers, the Legal Practice Board of WA wants to overrule the Supreme Court of Western Australia’s decision?

Both of them have been deregistered because they are Asian-Australians?

It is alleged there are other lawyers of Anglo-Saxon origin who have committed crimes but are not being sanctioned albeit being favored by the regulator?

A man who allegedly duped dozens of migrants into paying for non-existent working visas has been arrested by the Australian Federal Police.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Desperate migrants wanting to obtain a work visa are an easy target for fraudsters wanting to make a quick buck.

It’s a multimillion-dollar industry which can attract some unsavoury operators.

One businessman is now being investigated not only by the Immigration Department and the Tax Office, but by police across three states as well.

James Thomas has this exclusive story.

JAMES THOMAS, REPORTER: The Department of Immigration, police and scores of victims all have questions for this man.

LIANA ALLAN, MIGRATION ALLIANCE: Abel Prasad is probably the most deceptive scoundrel that I have met in my life.

JAMES THOMAS: You disagree that you’re a scammer or a rip-off merchant?

ABEL PRASAD: Definitely.

JAMES THOMAS: Right. OK.

Abel Kalpinand Prasad sold migration services such as visas and jobs for migrants wanting to live in Australia. But scratch the surface of Mr Prasad’s business and some things are not as they seem.

So what are you doing now?

ABEL PRASAD: Unemployed at the moment.

LIANA ALLAN: I would say he’s definitely a millionaire, multi-millionaire.

JAMES THOMAS: Liana Allan is the head of Australia’s peak association of migration agents. She accuses Abel Prasad of running a lucrative international migration scam into which she was unwittingly lured.

LIANA ALLAN: He lies to people and pretends that he can get them a new life in a new country in Australia. Essentially what Abel wanted to do was he wanted to ride off my reputation and have me to promote and essentially bless everything that he did and to advise all of our members and Legal Training Australia migration agents that he was a safe person to do business with.

JAMES THOMAS: Allan was conned into promoting Prasad’s former company, SCV Legal, on her website, seen by thousands of migration agents and their clients.

LIANA ALLAN: He was extremely charming. He wore a very beautiful suit with wonderful ties. Abel Prasad then proceeds to describe the fact that he can extract decisions out of the Department of Immigration and out of the Government because he’s friends with them all.

JAMES THOMAS: With her support, Prasad now had access to migrants looking for a life in Australia.

ASHLEY CHEN: If you meet Abel Prasad, just be careful and don’t listen any word that he says. 9.5 out of 10 is lying.

JAMES THOMAS: Ashley Chen came to Australia on a student visa. His dream: to live and work here. That’s where Prasad entered his life.

ASHLEY CHEN: He introduced me his job, saying that’s – he can do the visas and applicant stuff for me. I also trusted him at that time and I send money to him as well.

JAMES THOMAS: How much money did you lose to Abel Prasad in total?

ASHLEY CHEN: All up it’s about $41,000.

JAMES THOMAS: So what did you get for that $41,000?

ASHLEY CHEN: I didn’t get a visa from that.

JAMES THOMAS: No visa, no permanent job, and now, no money.

ASHLEY CHEN: Financially, I only have $10 cash in my pockets.

JAMES THOMAS: Chen’s student visa expires in August, 2016. He is too embarrassed to tell his mother in China what happened.

ASHLEY CHEN: I was trying to suicide myself once by taking my knife. Trying to, but I didn’t do it.

JAMES THOMAS: Ashley Chen is not the only migrant pushed to the brink by the promises of Abel Prasad.

JASPAL MAROKAY: I was looking for a new job and I was on, like, student visa and my visa was going to expire and one of my friends, like, he recommend me, like, he know someone and who can offer you a good job and he also, like, can give you opportunity to get new visa.

JAMES THOMAS: Jaspal Marokay came to Australia from India. He paid Prasad for his Australian working visa and a job. The job never came through and this visa is fake.

JASPAL MAROKAY: I was so shocked. I can’t describe it. I was …

JAMES THOMAS: Mr Marokay’s lawyer, Mohammad Peerzada.

So this is a forged Commonwealth document?

MOHAMMAD PEERZADA, LAWYER: That’s correct.

JAMES THOMAS: How much did he pay for that?

MOHAMMAD PEERZADA: We have record to show that he deposited $17,500 in the bank account.

JAMES THOMAS: And so the job didn’t turn up.

MOHAMMAD PEERZADA: The job didn’t turn up.

JAMES THOMAS: So everything about this is ..MOHAMMAD PEERZADA: It’s fake. Total – totally fraud.

JAMES THOMAS: Fraudulent.

MOHAMMAD PEERZADA: Yeah.

JAMES THOMAS: Jaspal Marokay’s original and legitimate student visa has now expired. His situation is dire. Immigration has granted him a bridging visa, but faces deportation if he fails to get another visa.

JASPAL MAROKAY: So hard for me right now. So hard to describe.

JAMES THOMAS: The Migration Alliance has received 20 direct complaints about Abel Prasad. Liana believes there are many more.

LIANA ALLAN: A lot of the victims are very hesitant about coming forward.

JAMES THOMAS: She says the migration industry is facing an uphill battle in their fight against people like Abel Prasad.

LIANA ALLAN: I guess we do have this kind of stuff happening quite a lot and that’s something we’re trying to stamp out.

JAMES THOMAS: Using different names and companies, Abel has operated around the country with seeming indifference for his victims.

LIANA ALLAN: He started in Adelaide, he conned people there, and once it all got too much, he moved to New South Wales. Once it all gets a bit too much and people are hot on his tail, he then skips the state.

JAMES THOMAS: You have been operating as a migration agent, is that right?

ABEL PRASAD: No.

JAMES THOMAS: We found Prasad in Brisbane.

The problem is, you say everything’s not true and yet there are so many people suggesting that you’re a shyster.

ABEL PRASAD: That’s fine.

JAMES THOMAS: And a fraud.

ABEL PRASAD: That’s fine.

JAMES THOMAS: And a rip-off merchant and that you prey on vulnerable people.

ABEL PRASAD: Definitely. I understand that.

JAMES THOMAS: You do – definitely you do prey on … ?

ABEL PRASAD: No, no, no. No, no – that’s what’s being said.

JAMES THOMAS: Prasad is relaxed about his detractors. Liana Allan says that that’s because his victims are either powerless or scared.

LIANA ALLAN: You need to really be careful about Abel Prasad.

ASHLEY CHEN: He says, “I have your – if you don’t pay, I have your address and I have all your informations, so you think about that” – something like that.

JAMES THOMAS: What do you think he meant when he said that?

ASHLEY CHEN: Ah, I think – I thought that was a imply of you will come into my house and do something to me bad.

JAMES THOMAS: Have you ever threatened any of these people that you’ve offered assistance to?

ABEL PRASAD: Definitely not. Definitely not.

JAMES THOMAS: Never scared people?

ABEL PRASAD: Look at me. I’m not a scary person. I wouldn’t scare anyone. I’ve had people threaten me and I know how it feels, so why would I do that?

JAMES THOMAS: Tiring of our questions, Prasad referred us to two lawyers, but they both denied representing him. When we told him, Prasad insisted that someone would call us to arrange a sit-down interview.

So, we’ll see you tomorrow morning?

ABEL PRASAD: He’s gonna arrange an appointment with you.

JAMES THOMAS: And you?

ABEL PRASAD: Yep, I’ll be there.

JAMES THOMAS: You promise me ?

ABEL PRASAD: I will. He will arrange an appointment.

JAMES THOMAS: Forgive me for not trusting you, but …

ABEL PRASAD: Mate, get out.

JAMES THOMAS: No-one called us for the interview.

LIANA ALLAN: This particular type of scam is preying on the most vulnerable members of our community and migrants need to know that the laws of our country are being upheld.

JAMES THOMAS: Yesterday the Australian Federal Police arrested Prasad in Brisbane. He is to be extradited to South Australia to face charges related to GST fraud. While the charges are unrelated to Jaspal Marokay’s ordeal, he and other victims just want to see Prasad behind bars.

JASPAL MAROKAY: I just want justice.

JAMES THOMAS: And more than anything, he wants a visa to stay in Australia.

JASPAL MAROKAY: I love Australia, you know. It’s my dream to live here, you know. I just love Australia.

Similar criticisms were heard from countries including the Canada, Fiji, France, Germany and Switzerland.

Policies have saved lives at sea: Australian delegation

Australia’s delegation, which included former immigration minister Philip Ruddock, was given several opportunities to respond.

Official Steve McGlynn said Australia’s border policies had saved countless lives at sea.

“The ensuring substantial and sustained reduction in maritime ventures as a result of Australia’s managed approach to migration has resulted in Australia being able to settle more refugees for our humanitarian programs,” he said.

“There were a number of states that were, basically, asking that the camps and the detention centres on Nauru and Manus be closed immediately, and all children be removed from detention centres,” he told RN Breakfast from Geneva.

“That was absolutely a main theme of concern, as were protecting the rights of indigenous people.”

Professor Sarah Joseph from the Castan Centre said Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers had drawn the attention of the world.

“Today it was manifestly clear that we are not role models on issues of asylum. We are pariahs,” she said.

Discrimination against Indigenous people was another concern raised during the review, with Denmark flagging concern at the “the high percentage of Aboriginal children between the ages of 10 to 12 years held in detention centres”.

The United Kingdom and others also called on Australia to adopt national legislation to prohibit disabled people from being sterilised without their consent.

Australia recently launched a bid for a seat on the council for a three-year period starting in 2018.

Fears for pregnant woman on Nauru

11 minutes ago – AAP

There are fears for the health of a heavily pregnant Kurdish asylum seeker on Nauru who has diabetes.

Australian Medical Association President Brian Owler is demanding Immigration Minister Peter Dutton fly the woman, who is 40 weeks pregnant, to Australia for specialised medical care.

“The minister must stop playing with people’s lives by being inflexible with the government’s hard-line stance on asylum seekers,” he said in a statement.

“Show some humanity and compassion.”

A spokeswoman for the immigration department hit back saying there was a group of asylum seeker and refugee women on Nauru who were refusing appropriate medical assistance with their pregnancies.